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Instagram Meme Account Purge Costs Teenagers Thousands of Dollars

Charlotte Henry ·

Some teens were making thousands of dollars a month running Instagram accounts that shared memes. Then the photo-sharing network shut their accounts down. MarketWatch spoke to one of those affected.

The purge has cost some users thousands of dollars. Ben told MarketWatch his pages earned him $4,000 a month and were his only salary. He made the money through selling shoutouts: Users looking to grow their pages paid Ben to promote those pages on his account. “I don’t have another job as Instagram paid in one week what I would get in one month of an actual job,” Ben said. He did not think it would last forever, however. Ben saved most of the money he earned from his page, but is now looking for another source of income.

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After Bashing Apple, Samsung Caves, Deletes Headphone Jack

John Martellaro ·

The Verge writes:

… today’s just-announced Samsung Galaxy Note 10 doesn’t include the 3.5mm socket, even though it’s the phone that would have been most likely to keep it around….

Now, like some of its competitors, Samsung just has to pretend it never made fun of Apple for doing the same damn thing. Because even if you try to delete these videos, Samsung, the internet has a long memory.

The excuses  explanations Samsung makes are hilarious.

TMO Deals

Jokitech Walnut Wooden Aluminum Headphone Stand: $24.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the Jokitech Walnut Wooden Aluminum Headphone Stand. Minimal and sleek, this stand will let you keep your headphones off your desk, safely out of the way. It’s padded, and the rest on this model is walnut. There are also options for Space Gray and Silver models in the deal listing. You can get this stand for $24.99 through our deal.

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Amazon Helps Cops Get Ring Surveillance Videos Without Warrants

Andrew Orr ·

A couple weeks ago I shared news that Amazon is requiring police to promote its Ring surveillance cameras. Not that bad, I thought, because at least the police had to have the owner’s permission. But I was optimistic, because Amazon is giving police talking points on how to persuade owners, and even seizing the video footage if the owner said no.

As reported by GovTech on Friday, police can request Ring camera footage directly from Amazon, even if a Ring customer denies to provide police with the footage. It’s a workaround that allows police to essentially “subpoena” anything captured on Ring cameras.

Things like government surveillance and hacking are precisely why I will never buy smart home products. Update: A Ring spokesperson emailed me a correction: The reports that police can obtain any video from a Ring doorbell within 60 days is false. Ring will not release customer information in response to government demands without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Ring objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.